A rock concert in rocky surrounds at an alpine height - so beautiful some who see it reportedly cry - is to be staged for a third year early next month.
The full-day affair is limited to 180 tickets and includes brunch and bubbles before a helicopter trip to a location on Cecil Peak at an altitude of exactly one mile above Queenstown.
This is followed by a gourmet barbecue lunch, a flight off the mountain and an after-party at Jack's Point Clubhouse.
The full price of Over the Top Rock is $650, although pre-release tickets are available online at $595 for the March 4 concert.
Helicopter company Over the Top founder, pilot and chief executive Louisa Patterson said the event usually sold out, with a mix of people snapping up tickets.
She said she had been in the helicopter industry for 35-plus years and had never heard of such an event.
''It was my idea because I had been taking people there and it lent itself to a rock concert,'' Ms Patterson said.
''We are lucky in the Southern Lakes to be blessed with a natural amphitheatre in the mountains.''
Like any outdoor concert, the event was at the mercy of the skies, but she said a second alpine site was available at a lower level ''in case the mountain tops are in bad weather''.
Getting equipment such as barbecues to the location was challenging - they have to be transported in pods - and the limited number of tickets was purely because of the logistics of ferrying guests to and from the concert by helicopter.
However, once equipment was in place, the helicopters flew off, and the band started to play, she said.
''It's just magical.''
''But I suppose you just have to be there because it's really hard to explain how extraordinary it is.''
Lynch Mob and Tom Maxwell will perform Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and the Beatles' Abbey Road songs.
Pink Floyd was a ''personal favourite'' and members of the band had visited the concert location.
''We were hoping that one of those visits would coincide with one of the concerts but it's not going to,'' Ms Patterson said.
